Mobile communication devices are increasingly popular for communication and other tasks. As their functionality has increased, larger display screens on smaller devices are in demand. In devices with large displays, the acoustic interface is closely positioned between the display and the top of the device housing. The acoustic interface, including an earpiece transducer and its associated earpiece port, may be only a few millimeters from the top of the housing and from the display.
To listen, a user may press the device's earpiece port to his or her ear. However, the sound from the acoustic interface may suffer from acoustic leakages as the sound dissipates away from the user's ear from the area near the top of the device housing. That is, since the earpiece port is very close to the top of the device, sound may travel beyond the top of the device, and not in the direction of the user's ear. Additionally, ambient noise may reach the user's ear from the area near the top of the device housing, making sound from the earpiece port more difficult to hear in some environments. Due to the location of the acoustic interface, it can be difficult to seal the earpiece to the user's ear to avoid acoustic leakages. Accordingly, the user may perceive the sound from the acoustic interface as too quiet.
For the mobile communication device's earpiece to be tolerant of large acoustic leakages, the acoustic system may need to generate very large acoustic pressures at low frequencies, which may be difficult as the devices become increasing smaller. For example, for smaller devices, there may be a trend toward smaller acoustic transducers instead of larger transducers.
In addition to acoustic leakage problems, a mobile communication device with an acoustic interface crowded between the top of the display and the top of the device housing may also incur user comfort problems. For example, positioning the acoustic interface at top of the device against an ear may cause some users discomfort.
Thus, there is a need for the enhancement of the quality, performance and comfort of the acoustic interfaces for mobile communication devices with large displays.